Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

Bardock was relieved that Zarbon had finally vacated the premises and that he (and Toma) could have the female's attention all to themselves once more. While listening in to Zarbon and Lluvia's conversation, the wheels in Toma's fertile brain began churning out an inspired notion. He knew that the Saiya-jin monarch would look very favorably upon anyone who could propose even a minor opportunity in which the slimy Ice-jin would be forced into playing second fiddle. The more Toma chewed on this little brainstorm, the more the idea of the Saiya-jins beating the loathsome Frieza to the punch to anything was rapidly gaining appeal in his calculating mind.

"Um, Yu-vee?" Lluvia turned around at the informal address of her name.

"Yes, Toma?"

"Would it be possible for us to obtain one of those hol-vids of your group? I do believe that our ruler, King Vegeta, would be very interested in hiring The Shadow Entertainers for a stint on Vegeta-sei." Bardock glanced over at Toma with an unspoken question in his dark eyes and received a "just-nod-your-head- and-keep-your-mouth-shut" look in reply. Lluvia's keen eyes honed in on the non-verbal exchange between the two warriors.

"Like I said to Zarbon, if you can present my company with a decent contract, we will perform. In my business, it's strictly 'first-come, first-serve'. Now, if you both will excuse me for a brief moment, I'll go back to the dressing room and get you one of our most current hol-vid business cards."

The glints bouncing off the thin chain around Lluvia's swaying hips again captured Bardock's fascinated gaze as she walked back toward the dressing rooms. As soon as she disappeared from view, Bardock grabbed the front of Toma's battlesuit with his hand and yanked in him closer. His friend's "cat-that-just-ate-the-canary" expression did nothing to ease the commander's current state of mind.

"Did you just give yourself a lobotomy while I wasn't looking?" Bardock snarled. "What in Kami's name are you thinking?"

Grinning hugely, Toma easily disengaged his friend's grip and chuckled. "What I am thinking, my old chum, is of a way we can score some major credits with King Vegeta and, at the same time, regally trump not only Frieza, but that posturing Zarbon as well!" The commander frowned and cocked his spiky-haired head at this statement, not quite getting the gist of Toma's train of thought. Speaking in low, conspiratorial tones, Toma quickly outlined his proposal to Bardock, who began to nod his head repeatedly as the idea took hold in the telling.

It didn't take Lluvia long to retrieve a copy of the hol-vid from her dressing room. When she reappeared with card in hand, she noted the two dark heads bent towards each other in hushed conversation. Sensing her approach, they abruptly broke off their ardent tête-à-tête.

Bardock automatically reached out to take the proffered hol-vid card and accidentally brushed fingertips with her. The tiny physical contact between them was immediate and electric. They both held onto the card for a few seconds longer while their eyes locked once more, much to the amusement of the observant Toma.

Such amazingly opaque eyes and yet they seem to burn with a deep inner fire, Lluvia thought to herself. This scarred Saiya-jin warrior--even if he is the most undeniably drop-dead, sexiest thing I've ever laid my eyes on--is probably more trouble than I need in my life right now.

Despite her misgivings, Lluvia couldn't stop herself from staring at his face and wondering how the scar on his left cheek would feel under her fingers. It was a ridged badge of past violence contrasting against the olive-tinted smoothness of his handsome face.

The Saiya-jin felt a tiny pull of memory in the back of his mind as his eyes scanned over her striking facial features.

Her skin shines like a smooth lilac pearl, he silently observed. I'm sure that I'd never get tired of tasting those incredibly rosy lips…so moist, so soft…

Immersed in Lluvia's luminous midnight gaze, the words of a well-known poem suddenly surfaced into Bardock's transfixed mind:

"She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes…"

Toma staged a loud cough into his hand, the harsh sound effectively rupturing their spellbound moment. Lluvia was the first to release her hold on the hol-vid card and take a dazed step backwards. Bardock also stepped back and absently tucked the card into the space between his chest and breastplate. Without speaking another word, the two Saiya-jins fired up their ki auras and rocketed off into the star-riddled night sky, heading back toward their space pods.

That was a bizarre encounter to say the least, Lluvia contemplated as she watched their rapid departure. She turned around to make her way slowly back toward the dressing room and her fellow entertainers. What is it about that Saiya-jin warrior that attracts me so?

On the way home, Bardock was strangely uncommunicative. Throughout the trip back to Vegeta-sei, he spoke into the com unit but a few times and only to the planet's space control tower. Toma wanted to pump his friend for feedback about Lluvia, but kept coming up dry. His commander was being abnormally tight-lipped about the engaging female and his reaction to her.

The two pods crashed into their respective absorption circles on Vegeta-sei's main landing pad area once re-entry into the planet's atmosphere was completed. Brushing off any offers to join his comrades in either the communal mess hall or for other diversions, Bardock adjourned instead to his own living quarters, hoping that the descent into a deep, restful sleep would afford him some peace of mind. In that way, he hoped to get a reprieve from all of his stormy thoughts. Especially those whirling around a certain lilac-skinned enigma named Lluvia Celestri.

His plan had almost worked, too, except when the nearly forgotten hol-vid card tumbled out onto the floor of his quarters. He had been shrugging off his body armor in preparation to wash off the dusty residue still clinging onto him from the last assignment on Gheneres when the hol-vid hit the floor with a softthunk. For a brief second, he considered just throwing the darn thing into the refuse bin. Instead, Bardock picked it up and walked over to the holographic-video slot in the wall and inserted the card. The holographic video display powered up and began to play its promotional message. The melodic voice-over was unmistakably hers. The imbedded images contained an introductory message followed by brief clips of the entertainers' most recent appearances, closing with a trailer outlining their terms of contractual performance. Bardock found himself hitting the replay button over and over again, just to hear and see the miniature version of Lluvia sing and dance and to hear her voice. The sounds of the hol-vid eventually lulled him into a soothed half-sleep state until the player's automatic shut-off function kicked in. Sprawled out upon his large sofa/futon, his fatigued body finally succumbed to a deep and dreamless slumber.

Around midday the next day, Toma barged unannounced into his fellow Saiya-jin's domicile, bugging Bardock to see the hol-vid. After viewing the hol-vid once in its entirety, Toma promptly popped it out of the slot and bolted for the royal palace. Bardock, however, was not quite ready to give it up and chased after his fellow Saiya-jin, hoping to keep the hol-vid a little while longer in his possession before surrendering it to his ruler. But Toma was not to be denied his plan to figuratively tweak Frieza's nose (and Zarbon's, too) by securing the entertainers' services before them. Once they arrived at the royal palace, Toma quickly made his way up the chain of royal subordinates. He was ultimately passed up to the king's appointment lackey's offices and handed him the card before Bardock could snatch it back. At that point, the lackey made all of the proper noises and assurances to both Saiya-jin warriors that King Vegeta would definitely see the hol-vid at first opportunity.

Once the two had departed, the curious lackey fired up his own hol-vid unit and, like Bardock, kept hitting the replay button on his display. This was the circumstance in which King Vegeta discovered his enthralled subordinate, who happened to be five minutes late in reporting to the Saiya-jin ruler his audience calendar for the day. Abashed, the lackey profusely apologized and played the hol-vid for the perturbed, but inquisitive monarch.

A short while later, Toma and Bardock were summoned back to the palace to explain in person to the king how they managed to obtain this particular hol-vid card. Bardock kept his part of the conversation with the king to a minimum, speaking only when directly addressed. His companion, however, was not so reserved and, as soon as the king nodded his permission, jumped right into the telling of their opportune meeting with Lluvia and Zarbon. Warming up to his subject, Toma elaborated on his idea to book the popular entertainers first, thus besting Frieza and Zarbon. King Vegeta leaned back indolently upon his cushioned throne and stroked his beard while listening to Toma enthusiastically yammer on about his inspired brainstorm.

What the two warriors did not realize was that prior to their return to the palace, the king had already issued a directive to hire the entertainers upon completing his initial screening of the hol-vid. After all the mercenary assignments to which they'd been assigned by Frieza, and for which (in the king's opinion) they'd never been properly compensated, his Saiya-jin warriors were most deserving of a little entertainment. And what made it ultimately satisfying to King Vegeta was that he would be securing the services of these Shadow Entertainers before Frieza did.